FALMOUTH — Braintree police have backed down from their former position and returned $1,200 in cash they confiscated from Falmouth resident Derick Eaton when they arrested him for drug possession in April 2013.

But they still refuse to return Eaton's medical marijuana despite a court order to do so.

Instead, the Norfolk District attorney's office filed a court motion to reconsider the judge's decision regarding the return of the drugs, saying prosecutors believed the court order applied only to the cash.

Police arrested Eaton, 31, and two other men in a parked car at the South Shore Mall in April 2013. There was $420 in the car's cup holder and another $796 in Eaton's wallet, along with a few baggies of marijuana and hashish, a concentrated form of marijuana made from the resin of the cannabis plant.

Eaton was charged with two counts of possession to distribute hashish, one count of distribution of marijuana and one count of conspiracy to violate the drug law.

Quincy District Court Judge John Stapleton dismissed the charges against Eaton and his companions. Eaton's lawyer then submitted a motion requesting the return of the money and the marijuana, which the judge approved.

Under the state's medical marijuana law, patients with certificates can possess up to 10 ounces of marijuana — a three-months supply — at one time. While 1.5 ounces of marijuana were found in the car, Eaton said only a half ounce of marijuana and 0.3 grams of hashish belonged to him.

Eaton initially approached Braintree police with his court order in early August, shortly after the charges were dismissed. He said police put him off, saying the property officer was on vacation.

Ultimately they refused to release the money or the marijuana.

Last week, Braintree Deputy Police Chief Wayne Foster said his department had been told by the district attorney's office not to "give drugs back to a drug dealer" and that the police took the money as proceeds from a drug sale.

This week, the Norfolk District attorney's office issued a public statement saying, "As this is an active case, both the Norfolk District Attorney's Office and the Braintree Police Department are constrained from offering direct comment."

In the motion to reconsider filed in Quincy District Court on Tuesday, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey's office says it never received a written copy of the motion for the return of the marijuana filed by Eaton's lawyer.

"The Commonwealth was therefore under the mistaken impression that the defendant was merely seeking the return of the cash that had been seized at the time of his arrest, and given that the criminal charges had been dismissed by the court, informed the court that the Commonwealth had no opposition to the motion," says the district attorney's office in its filing.

"Had the Commonwealth been provided a written copy of the motion or otherwise been aware that the defendant was seeking the return of the seized marijuana and hashish, the Commonwealth would have opposed that portion of the motion and sought a hearing on the issue."